Spectrum-Manipulable Hundred-Watt-Level High-Power Superfluorescent Fiber Source

Abstract

The superfluorescent fiber source (SFS) has the unique features of broadband emission, low coherence, high brightness, and high temporal stability, thereby being applicable to a wide variety of situations such as sensing, medical imaging, and material processing. In this paper, a spectrum-manipulable hundred-watt-level high-power SFS with both wavelength and linewidth tunability is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. By inserting a bandwidth-adjustable tunable optical filter after a broadband SFS seed and amplifying through a three-stage fiber amplifier, the operating wavelength of the SFS can be tuned over a range of ∼25 nm, and the output power can exceed 106 W over the whole tuning range, corresponding to a slope efficiency of ∼77% with respect to the launched pump power. The full width at half maximum linewidth of the SFS can also be continuously tuned from ∼0.4 to ∼15.2 nm. The developed high-power SFS with flexible spectral manipulation property may have potential applications in the industrial production and scientific research.